


A Wood Carver's Daily Work

by tahanrien



Category: Brave (2012)
Genre: Gen, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 18:58:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tahanrien/pseuds/tahanrien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The wisp that was Mor'du isn't yet done with the Witch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Wood Carver's Daily Work

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lanoyee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanoyee/gifts).



> An almost impossibly big Thank You to Madame Hardy, who did an absolutely awesome job with the Beta reading. :)

Cailean Crafty Wood Carver, opening hours sunrise until sunset, real dedication never sleeps, felt a certain warmth in her chest when she got back to her ramshackle blackhouse cottage. 

It wasn't just because, although the Wicker Man Festival was one of her preferred events for practicing and for chatting with her lovely gals about the latest news in the wood-craftsmanship community, the organizers were still working on a location that wouldn't flood the entire tent area in the lightest rain.

It wasn't just because there was nothing that compared to an atmospheric environment for the creation of Art, one with the perfect level of lightness and shadow, achieved by years and years of refining and rebuilding the window. 

Anyway, no, it was that she had inherited this cottage from her own grandmother, a very crafty woman herself, who had set up the family business. When her grandmother, might she rest well under the trees, had given her the cottage, she had said, right on her deathbed: 

"Cailean, don't forget, always put a spell for some warmth into the house because there is nothing worse than when you get back with cold, wet feet and have to do some magic first before the house gets warm. Also, a cheese board doesn’t need that much swirl on the side, understatement is the key here. I didn’t spend my life searching for the perfect cheese board design just for you to mess up the carving. Do it again."

Right now Cailean really did have cold, wet feet, so she certainly should have felt a certain warmth in her chest at the sight of her cottage. The cottage was her home.

Her home with somebody inside it right this moment.

The crow and Cailean exchanged a silent, meaningful look that featured way more eyebrow than any crow should have, in Cailean's opinion. She gripped the broom tighter, making it squirmbetween her fingers, then she walked over to the door and ripped it open in one hard move. The door went flying--

"Oh", Cailean said and dropped the broom. It scurried away, over to where the door had flattened the crow against the wall. "It's you."

From his place on the table, the wisp that had been Mor'du looked back at her. Tiny and blue as he was, she still recognized him, because that was another secret to a successful business, a fruitful bond to a satisfied customer. And he looked like he wanted something--

Oh, of course. Cailean put on her best smile. With the woods as dangerous to outsiders as they were, returning customers were a blessing to every carver.

"I'm sorry", Cailean said. "We are all sold out right now, but if you come by tomorrow evening, I'll have whipped up some nice replica bear balls, ready to take on every green, permitted under USGA/R&A local rules, assuming adoption of the rules by your preferred golf club (usable also for miniature golf)."

The wisp looked at her another second in silence, then vanished. He left behind a soft whisper, but Cailean's hearing hadn't been good enough to hear that in many, many years.

Cailean frowned at the emptiness of her cottage. With all years' accumulation of work sold to the red-haired lass, the walls looked bare, the table empty and the corners really needed some sweeping. Cailean turned to the broom to get that done, but he was still trying to free the crow from behind the door. Well, later then. At least those two were entertaining.

With everything gone, there was new space for more crafting. Cailean dragged her fingers along the (oh-so-empty) table, and the feeling of freedom rose in her chest. She could already see her next project: a statur, maybe hip-high, of a bear on a deer, or maybe a horse, in classic hunting pose with a bow, yes, she could see that. There had been some talk of an archery contest for the princess’ hand at the Wicker Man festival and Cailean could read the signs: archery was In again. She would definitely do that. And bears, well, a timeless classic anyway.

A new swing in her steps, Cailean got her quill, ink, and paper to the table, to sketch out the first designs. Best to start with the idea was still fresh in her mind. Otherwise procrastination would take over, and, well, she had seen businesses rise and fall with the mindset of their carver.

Cailean took a seat, ignoring how the crow dropped to the ground after the broom had finally freed it; instead, she focused on the paper. A bear, yes, maybe with some spunk, some… liveliness, not the stoic hunter… And a proud horse, some big thing, yes. That would look good. She made a grab for the quill…

…and it rolled away from her, then paused, just a tad away from where her fingertips rested against the wood.

Cailean narrowed her eyes and then, slowly, moved her hand towards the quill. Again it rolled away, with some the faintest whisper and an almost invisible glimmer.

Carefully, Cailean pulled back her hand to the paper, threw a casual look atthe crow where it was resting, and the broom finally getting to work on all the dust — then, fast as she could with her old fingers, Cailean grabbed for the quill.

With a clatter, it sprang from between her fingers and fell over the edge of the table and to the ground.

The wisp of Mor’du stared back at her from where it was floating, right where the quill had fallen off the table.

“I had hoped you had left”, Cailean said to it, but of course it didn’t answer, just looked at her, waiting. And she really wanted to get the drawing done, because at her age you couldn’t just wait a few moments more, no, you turned around to get some hot water for delicious herbal tea and gone was your idea, forever, because you hadn't scratched it down. The life of a carver and artist, it was hard already, insurance way too expensive and customers too accustomed to around-the-clock tending to their special wishes, and Cailean really didn’t need a wisp to make all that even harder.

But it seemed like she didn’t have a choice.  
“I don’t need you to show me my fate”, she told the wisp, but of course it didn’t listen.

She followed it.

With spring in the lands it should have been raining, but Cailean was happy it wasn't. She had left the crow and the broom with firm instructions to clean her workspace while she was gone. There was no reason not to assume this adventure would go well; soon she would be at her table, finally able to work without wisps interrupting. The whole thing was doomed to fail anyway; like her grandmother before her, Cailean’s destiny clearly lay in being a wood carver. She didn’t need more fate, she wasn’t a girl anymore, hadn’t been for quite some time.

The wisp that had been Mor’du led her through the woods, further and further away. The stone circle had been half destroyed when she had passed it this morning, and in the light of the day it looked even worse. Clearly, if this kind of vandalism didn’t stop, she would have to make a trip to King Fergus and have a firm word with him. Kids today simply had no respect anymore.

The wisp led her on, up to the old castle where Mor’du used to rule when he still had been human. Cailean knew it well enough, those castles were all the same, and even destroyed it just reminded her of her own age, of the Kings and Queens she had seen rise and fall in this country.

There was a steep staircase, the wisp appearing briefly above each step, as if to make sure that Cailean followed it precisely. It was a good thing she had done her daily exercise after she woke, some positions to stretch her back and lighten her legs. Down here it was dark for a normal human’s eye. As a witch, of course, Cailean had no problem seeing.

If there had been anything to see. It was a hall, maybe a dining hall that had crashed down when the castle had fallen with the kingdom.

Cailean looked around and caught the wisp at the end of what must have been a grand table. Now it was turned halfway over, broken in the middle, the wood splintered in many more places. There had been chairs, all so shattered that Cailean could barely guess what they might have been, and fallen stones everywhere.

Following the sight of the wisp, she stepped up to the table, and the wisp disappeared again. Stuck in the table, right where the wisp had been, was another piece of wood.

Wood that Cailean knew all too well. It had been one of the first pieces she had ever carved, while still under the tutelage of her grandmother. She had sold it a long time ago, together with a spell… But with all the destruction around here, it still had survived. Feeling almost giddy, Cailean leaned down and carefully pulled free the mahogany cheese board.

It was a bit dusty—

There was almost no sound, not even a step on the stones, but even at her age, Cailean just knew when something was going on. She spun around, as fast as her back allowed, and snapped her fingers three times.

Her magic roared up, stretching forward, and caught the figure behind her in tight wraps, holding it aloft. Only then Cailean saw who it was: Three kids, triplets with bright red hair and freckles. Boys, not yet old enough to know that old women in strange places very rarely were mere old women.

They were now looking at her sheepishly, all big eyes and tiny frowns.

Cailean shook her head. With the bear gone, they probably had thought it was safe to explore the ruins. They reminded her of the red-haired princess, with how reckless these kids were, and how little respect they had for their elders.

She was just about to start a small lecture, because clearly someone had to, when another voice came from behind her. “Harris! Hubert! Hamish! Where are you?”, a woman called. Well, at least they weren’t alone up here. “This is still a dangerous place! Come back right—”

Cailean turned around, but not fast enough to hide the captured boys behind her. She came face to face with a woman instead, who stared at her with eyes almost bigger than the kids'. Her face was soft and friendly, but right now she was white as a ghost. “A witch!”, she called out, before Cailean could even say a word.

Then the woman fainted.

It was only Cailean’s magic that kept the woman from hitting her head on the hard stone floor. For a moment, Cailean could do nothing but stand there and look at the woman; then she was already waking up. The woman blinked at Cailean, one time, two times. Then she focused on the boys.

And let out a huge sigh. “Oh”, she said, clearly relieved. She sat up and brushed down her dress. Obviously, this was something that happened often to her, because she took her fainting in stride. “You found them. Thank you.”

“No problem”, Cailean answered with a shrug. “They tried to scare me.”

The woman pressed a hand to her mouth in shock. “I’m so sorry”, she said. “Are you all right? I’m Maudie, their maid, and I should have had a better eye on them, I know… They just… do that. Harris, Hamish and that is Hubert” — she pointed to them, how she told them apart was a mystery to Cailean — “and they have been pretty unruly, lately especially. After their brief stint as bears.”

So it wasn’t chance that they looked exactly like the princess that had wanted the bear spell. 

“Those boys”, Maudie said, shaking her head. Still, she looked fond of them. It probably helped that Cailean still held them in her magic’s clutches, up in the air where they couldn’t make any trouble. “They are so hard to keep track of, especially now that I have my lover, who needs my attention as well, to keep him, and me having to struggle with all of the work to do…”

“Oh!” Overworked maid, now that Cailean understood. “So you want the bear spell. Well, let me tell you, once, there was a king—”

“Bears?” Maudie exclaimed, swooning in place, so that Cailean held out her hand, ready to grip Maudie’s arm should she faint again. “Oh no, no, my father was killed by that bear, I really don’t need more of that. Thank you, but… Look at all the destruction around here, terrible! Witches like yourself aren’t bothered by such annoyances of the woods, but for the rest of us, it can be very dangerous.” Maudie looked so serious while she spoke, so earnest, that Cailean just nodded along. 

Cailean could have told Maudie about having to scare away the birds from trying to steal parts of her carving supplies to make their nests; or about woodpeckers trying to attack her bigger bear statures; or about mice trying to live in her broom. But she was sure that sort of annoyance wasn’t what Maudie was talking about.

“It is bad enough that Princess Merida bought so many bear things, now we've bears all over the castle… no, nothing more of that, now.” She huffed.

Cailean could only shrug. “Better that way. It’s a good spell in theory, but many things can go wrong.” She waved to the boys with the cheese board. “Do you want me to release them here right now…?”

But Maudie wasn’t listening. Instead, her gaze was caught by the cheese board. “Is that—?” She paused, then held out her hands.

When Cailean held it out to her, waiting for an answer about the boys, Maudie let her hands roam over the board. “This is marvelous work! How beautiful!”, she said, breathless, but this time with something more like astonishment, less like fear.

At the praise, Cailean felt a slight blush on her cheeks. Even with all her works sold, she had gotten not a word of praise at the Wicker Man festival.

After a few more words about how beautiful the cheese board was, Maudie finally drew back. Cailean was going to just give it to her, sales be damned, because she had made more than enough with the red-haired princess’ purchase, but Maudie held up her hand.

“Oh, wait”, she said. “You are a witch. You must know. There is something you could do for me.”

Cailean bit back a sigh. It always came back to that, as if she wasn’t more, as if she would always be the witch with the bear spell. “Yes?”, she asked, as professional as she could, under these circumstances.

“Well, with the recent bear adventures”, Maudie continued, a hopeful smile on her face. “The dining hall and half of the kitchen, all of them got destroyed. We’d only need something simple, without any bears on it, normal trays and mixing spoons and salad forks and kneading troughs and such.

Maudie paused. “You see, it would be good to have the castle well equipped again, with all the feasts and fighting in the last days, and a regular supplier might be good— And I thought, maybe, you as a witch could tell me who made this cheese board?” She pointed at the cheese board still between them. “Because we really are in need of a good wood carver.”

Just before she answered, a smile already tugging at her lips, Cailean could hear a sound among the ruins: The laughter of a man, a whisper of a wisp, just before he vanished, having done his duty.

“Well”, Cailean said to Maudie. “I think I could help you with that…”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked the story, Kikoujutsuka, just as much at least as I liked your lovely assignment. Have a very nice holiday!


End file.
